TABLE OF CONTENTS Merrill I. Skolnik
This is a brief history of the bistatic radar known as Fluttar, developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory under the sponsorship of the U.S. Air Force. The experimental Fluttar system led to the AN/FPS-23, which was the first operational bistatic radar the United States deployed. It was used in the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line in the late 1950s as a gap-filler radar to detect low-flying aircraft approaching North America from the north.
In the early 1950s, the United States and Canada were concerned about airborne attack from the northern polar regions. Air defense of North America was of major importance at that time since nuclear weapons were no longer a monopoly of the United States and long-range bomber aircraft were available to other countries. A significant part of the North American air defense system planning in the early 1950s was the design, development, and installation of radars located in the northern regions to give early warning of the approach of hostile bombers. The northernmost line of warning radars, known as the DEW Line, extended 2,500 mi [1] along the 70 N latitude (more or less) from western Alaska to eastern Canada.
The idea for the DEW Line arose in 1952 during a summer study conducted by Lincoln Laboratory [1-3]. Lincoln Laboratory and the Bell Telephone Laboratories did much of the radar conceptual development for the DEW Line, and Western Electric was responsible for its construction. Canada also participated significantly. The main radars of the DEW...
